“The cooking thing was completely an accident,” she confessed during a Q&A at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “I wrote a book with my mom and my sister for fun. I had no idea it would be a New York Times bestseller. I never dreamed that they would ask me to do a TV show. I’m the most surprised person of all.

“This is another, second career. But it’s fun,” Yearwood adds. “It’s something I do and I enjoy, so that’s really the thing.”

The Georgia native says that the success of her cooking career is made even sweeter by the fact that it was so unexpected.

“I’m not one of those people who — even though I am a controlling Virgo, I’m not one of those people who sits down and goes, ‘Well, in 10 years, I’m going to be doing this,’” Yearwood explains. “I’m not a big visionary in that way; I just try to take the opportunities as they come, the things that I’ll enjoy doing.”

However, Yearwood’s music will always remain her biggest priority.

“As long as I can sing and hit the notes, I want to do that,” she says. “If I had to pick one thing to do in my life, it would be singing, because that’s what feeds my soul. I can’t imagine not doing that.”